good morning. welcome t i'm pat lawson muse. it's a new centralized officeñi c cf1 o dedi#p q" to helping d.c. high school dropouts get back into the game to earn their diplomas or g.e. deing located in northeast washington,e1 thexd latest effort to overhaul the public education. our guests, director of the d.c. youth for reengagement center and isaac hammond paul is the center's strategic planning officer. thank you both for being with us. >> thanks for having us. >> isaac, i'll startxd with you, since you're closest to me. tell us.v=uq thec center. >> we opened october 20, 2014.

we work with 16 to 24-year-olds who have dropped out of high school, who don't have a high school diplomae1 or g.e.d. we're a t(walk-in center located in the departmentñi ofq employment services. there are five of us. can get theirñr3w g.e.d. ordiploma. are we pleating those needs for our youth such as unemployment,

transportation issues, homelessness, food instability? are we working on those issues child care for example? and what the reengagement center does is look at those particular needs of our students address those, and then talk about educational options for them. >> you address them specifically for exampleriv÷ pñpram provides vouchers for child care.ñi that's a big issue f let's say, teen mothers? >> absolutely. the majorityñi of our teen mothersxdñi k5ásx++u+$qb

why they left school to support that young, you know, that young "t(rr&d. we have students homeless andçó you know how can yout(ñi focus on algebra and english when you don't know where you're going to sleep tonight? >> we have students who have,ñi to go hq school because they don't have transportation or because they've left school so they can support a family member by ñ/sworking. so the stories are different every day someone walks in. >> and what you just talked about are some of the main barriers toxd finishing high school? >> absolutely. >> your program is, i understand modeled after

similar programs in other citiest( like boston and philly? >> absolutely. they have very successful programs in both boston and philadelphia. wexd actually, before we opened the t(reengagement center, visitix ìáhp &hc% the boston program to make sure that we were on the right track for the district of columbia. weçó acknowledge that our residents here in d.c. are different than ther boston. but it's the sameq groundwork of making sure that you address theq barriers that young people have to getting that high school diploma or g.e. de before placing them into a school ore1 environment program. >> do you fine there's an epidemic oflpe1 youngsters these days not wanting to go to school? when i say epidemic, ir among those who drop out, because not everybody'sñr dropping numbers are moving in the ?áuposite direction. >> so açó recent study showed 60% of young people that were polled want to go back to school. they just weren't sure how to go about doing it.

and that's why the office of the state superintendentfá of education conducted this study and found over çó7500 district youth were out there and weren't&a%9 anfá educational placement thatq offered high school diploma or g.e.d. there's a big push to get c ursay, the reengagement center does exist andq where that on-ramp to getting intoñi placement but also understanding that there are very real obstacles in their life that's successful this second, this third fourth time around unless we address them. >> and i would jump in and say that, you know we havefá a uniq(o @r(t&háhp &hc% process with how we reconnect young people to schools and community-basede1 organizations that offer g.e.d. and high school diploma part is learning and barriers they experienced where they are academically and really making sure that when they finally do reconnect to school, it's a place where they're most successful.

and that -- we're fortunate to be able to work with about 30 different programsfá around the city that have very different offerings and very different approaches to how to educatejn young people and how to support education. >> talkfá this morning is about the new youth reengagement center located in northeast washington. we'll continue our discussion after this.

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wshgelcome back. talking about the youth reengagement center in the district. joining us on "viewpoint" is daniel childs who is 21 years olding a client at the center. take us back to age 16 when you dropped out of school. >> age 16, i dropped out. my mother's house had just went up for foreclosure, and we were moving around place to place

you know with different relatives and things. actually my mother had like moved with, like a relative that i couldn't like go stay with us. so i just -- i went my own way. i went to my grandmother's house for about six months and she passed away. i found her on the floor, and you know that really devastated me. so to the streets, you know. >> so you spent all of those years out of school. did you, in the back of your mind, say i really want to be in school, i should be in school? >> yes, i did. i did. but i felt like at that point, school wasn't the greatest opportunity for me. i felt like fast money was the greatest opportunity for me which now that i look back on it is stupid. >> uh-huh. >> it's real stupid. >> when did that thinking change for you? what prompted the change? >> well, basically my father passing away.

i made a promise to him i would get myself back in school and do right before he passed away. >> so you're keeping a promise now? >> yeah, to him, and to myself also, you know? i got to do it for myself, not only for him, but for myself. >> how much progress has the district made in addressing the dropout issue, according to the pew research center, the trend across the country is that fewer hispanics and african-americans are dropping out, and in fact dropout rates high school dropout rates, are much lower than they've been in a long time. >> so, yeah dropout rates have decreased across the nation in general. we're still struggling to address those issues in the district. i will say there are a lot of additional resources at the school level, a lot of social workers at buildings a lot of counselors at each of the buildings. so they're able to address a lot of the issues, like daniel had faced with losing relatives and

homelessness. there's homeless liaisons in each of our schools. that does assist with dropout rates in the schools. but we also know that, just like daniel here, he needed a place to go where he could find a way to get back into school and what the reengagement center does is we serve as that one-stop shop where any one 16 to 24 can be placed into the different schools here. what we found is that we've been highly successful we've been able to reach over 200 youth so far in the district. out of the 200, we've had 100 of them to actually be full intake clients and out of the 100, 50 are back in school, to receive the g.e. ded. or high school diploma. >> success stories popping up already. >> absolutely. >> isaac, following up on the pew research center and the

trend not only are more high school students staying in and finishing high school they're going to college? >> absolutely. so i think that we have a lot to learn about this issue from the 7,500 young people between the ages of 16 to 24 who are in front of us today who don't have a high school diploma who don't have a g.e.d. and every day a young person walks through our door, like daniel and many other who do, we learn more about what this group needs to be successful to graduate to go on to become a part of the labor force, to become part of those who are earning, you know secondary and post secondary credentials. and we're really fortunate to have this group of 30 about 30 really amazing educational programs that offer high school diploma and g.e.d. who we can communicate this back to and hopefully can continue to better

serve this group of young people. >> you turn no one away. even if a 30-year-old walks through the door you find a way to help? >> we have a no turn away policy. >> d.c. government, customer service says that, we won't turn anyone away. if anyone walks through our door we'll find a way to assist them. we'll call up some partners that serve the 30-year-old population and say, hey we had someone visit us today we'd like to send them your way. they welcome them with open arms. but it's district government policy to provide 100% service and that says no wrong doors. >> we've got to attack another break. we'll continue after this.

we're talking this morning about the youth reengagement center in the district which targets high school dropouts, doing a great

job. isaac, you were explaining your best fit program and how that helps students find the right school to go back to and how to get enrolled in those schools and to get their g.e.d.s. >> okay. so basically, a young person walks through either through a referral or because they've watched cnn or nbc or -- >> this is nbc. >> and they walk through the door and we sit down and have an informal conversation with them about what are the reasons that they've left school what are the barriers they've experienced, where are they academically. and then we take all of that information and within ten days we go out to three schools that we believe to be best fit based on all of the information that we've learned from the young person during the intake, and i'm sure daniel can tell you what those site visits are like.

but it's real lay time when the young person gets to interview and see what the program looks like and for the program to look at young person and say, is this going to be a best fit? we get back in the car and hear what a young person really thinks, if they can see themselves thriving there. >> daniel tell us about the site visits. >> well, i had three site visits. one of the site visits, it was -- it was like -- i was too young to be there. i was too young to be there. it wasn't people in there like my age, peers my age i can connect with, you know what i'm saying? the second site, i really don't remember that. layc, yeah the second site, it was okay but it was too far. too far. >> where are you no. >> covenant house of washington. >> tell us about your program. >> family oriented. i love it. they've got a music program there. i just love it. i love it there. it's great.

>> so ja'sent you taylor the programs to fit the students and their individual situations. >> absolutely. the difference this time around is you're not taking the student and saying this is where you must enroll in school. we're actually taking a student and saying you tell us if this is the place that you'd like to enroll and where you think you'll be successful. and like i said, the great news is because we're the office of the state superintendent of education, we're anonymous, we don't have to place at any particular location. a student can say to us this program was too old for me i need something younger or you know this one is a little too far, i'm not able to come to school every day on time, or this is it. this is where i feel like i'm going to be best served. we also try to get them different learning styles. what do they need? an instructor one-on-one instruction do they need self-motivated, self-guided

learning? we go through all of those options with the young person so they can make an informed decision. >> and isaac, they get case managers to help them walk through the process? >> absolutely. so our reengagement specialists and daniel has an amazing reengagement specialist, dana simpson, really hand-hold through the entire process of overcoming initial barriers helping collect all 0 the enroll enrollment documentation get through the tedious process that can turn young people away, to the point of walking, you know into the first day of class and after that for an entire year after that young person begins school you know, dana will be checking in with daniel on a weekly basis, making sure he's going to clasp i mean again, i think the best spokesperson is probably daniel on this. >> okay. we'll talk to you about that. we'll pick up right there after we take another commercial break. is that okay? >> that's okay. >> we'll be right back.

daniel, another question for you. do you still need someone to push you? to make you go to school every day? >> yes, i do. >> really? >> yes, i do, because sometimes i tend to get a little outmotivated. with my father passing and grandmother passing, one of the two main people who really pushed me to finish school you know? so, like i really need that push. and i have people who push me like miss dana simpson. >> resource specialist? >> my reverse specialist, yes. i've got a best friend, he -- man, he's on me like crazy, like, he pushes me to no -- to a no count. >> ja'sent do most students need that?

>> absolutely. we modeled our reengagement strategy after boston and philadelphia which studies show that young people need at least a year of the push after they're actually enrolled in g.e.d. or high school diploma program, simplely. because sometimes there will be something new that presents itself in their life, or that old barrier comes up and they need someone to say we still have your back. >> isaac, are parents part of what you're doing? >> absolutely. many of the young people who come through the reengagement center are parents themselves so their automatically integrated into the conversation and we're helping find child care, we are incorporating the entire family even if someone's not totally in the picture, especially for our 16 and 17-year-olds. family's a huge part of placement because they really need to buy into the process. >> you also have a pretty intensive outreach program? >> absolutely. one of the biggest challenges is finding all of the young people

and getting them to walk through the doors. so over the last six months since we've been open we've embarked on exciting partnerships with different city agencies, so we've trained 3,000 metropolitan police officers so they can make direct referrals to us. we've trained folks in the juvenile justice system. we've trained lawyers. we've trained folks who work in the child welfare system. i think, after a year, we could say that we're successful if everyone in the district who interacts with young people knows that the d.c. reengagement center is a place for young people to come and reconnect. >> ja'sent if they want to go on to college, you can get them enrolled in or point in the direction of tuition assistance program? >> absolutely. we fall under post secondary and career educational division of the office of state superintendent education which has d.c. tag program, tuition assistance grant, and make sure

our people know it doesn't stop with the high school diploma or g.e.d., we believe in you, we know you can on tan that college career. we connect them with that provides financial resources for colleges and universities throughout the nation. >> do you want to go to college? >> yes i do, for music, yes. i want to pursue my music full time. but i know i have to go to school, and like work really hard at it. if that doesn't work out, i have a second plan. i plan on going to college for hvac. >> okay. do you think -- do most of your friends like school? do they like the notion of being educated or would they just like to skip over that? >> i think they would like to skip over that width like-- which is wrong with the youth in d.c. now. i feel like i can be an advocate and model for people who want to get back in school, for people who want to do better. i feel like i can lead the way

for them. i feel like i can do that. >> that's what it's all about. >> yeah, it is. >> really is. >> we're really proud of you. >> thank you. i'm proud of myself. i didn't know i could come this far. i'm this far, and i'm going to take it head on. 100%. >> we're rooting for you. >> thank you. >> daniel childs, who is at the youth reengagement center and doing a great job. ja'sent brown director of the center and isaac hammond paul thank you all. >> thank you for having us. >> thanks for the work you're doing and sharing it with us. >> thank you. >> thank you for being with us this morning on "viewpoint." i'm pat lawson muse. stay with us, news4 today is next.

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news4 today starts now. >> right now, news4 today, a toddler is hit and killed this morning learning new details the driver may have been a relative. >> you might see frost walking out the door this morning. starting off cold cold cold, when chuck says things are going to warm up? playing the waiting game. hillary clinton expected to announce she is running for president. what president obama is revealing about his support. and right now, we're working to find out the condition of two people hurt in a wrong way crash on the beltway overnight. take a look live look at outer loop near the exit for landover road. it's clear now, but the scene just a few hours ago was dramatic. you can see it